Improvement in machines for polishing the eyes of needles



' 2SheetsSheet1. N. WHEELER & RM. BEERS.

MACHINES FOR POLISHING THE EYES 0F NEEDLES. 110.175.539. Patented. March 28, 1876.

' 1 L o LIN a N BE V iw'vEfiToas,

N.PEIER5, PBOTO-UTHOGRAPMER, WASHINGTON. D C.

2 SheetsShe et2. N. WHEELER & P. M. BEERS. MACHINES FOR POLISHING THE EYES 0F NEEDLES. No. 175,539.

Patented March 28,1876.

DH 0 T N E V N V N.PETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAFHER WASHINGTON. D c

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NATHANIEL WHEELER AND PHILO M. BEERS, OF BRIDGEPORT, CON N.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR POLISHING THE EYES OF NEEDLE S- Specification forming part of Letters Patent No.'l75,539, dated March 28, 1876; application filed January 12,1876.

To all whom it may concern:

I with the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the machine, showing some of the parts in elevation. Fig. 2 is a plan of the machine. Fig. 3 is a side elevation, and Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are views of detached portions, to show the parts in detail.

The object of this invention is to scour or polish the eyes of needles automatically; and the invention herein set forth consists in various improvements upon a machine for which Letters Patent have already been granted to PHILO M. BEERs, in which the needle-clamp was mounted on a carriage or arm, one end of which was attached to a crank, so that the clamp had a rising and falling motion during its reciprocations to and fro; but in said machine the' various motions of the clamp were regulated by the operator or attendant of the machine.

Now, in the present invention, the various changes necessary to complete the operation of polishing the eyes of the needles are accomplished by certain cams and ratchets, operated from the main driving-shaft, so that the attendant is not required to look after the motions of the needle-clamp, during the entire operation, as will hereinafter appear.

Another feature of novelty in the present machine, is the means of holding the spools that contain the polishing-threads, whereby all are released from tension, by releasing a single binding-bar, as will hereinafter appear.

A third novelty in this machine is providing a spring orelastic tension-finger for each polishing-thread, so that each thread is kept taut independently of the others, as will hereinafter appear.

A fourth improvement consists in providing each course of needles, as they are suspended upon the polishing-threads, with a comb or sliding bar,-for bringing all the needles in said cal motion.

whereby all the eyes will be held at the same height above the clamp, so that the polishingthreads will be as nearly as possible in the same horizontal plane, and therefore subject the needles to the same action, by the movements of the clamp, as will hereinafter appear. There are some otherimprovements that will be described in the specification, and appear I more definitely in the claims thereof.

At A is represented the frame of the machine, upon which is mounted the main driving-shaft B, and the reciprocating arm 0 and needle-clamp, as at D, which is mounted upon the forked end of the arm 0, and is fastened thereon by set-screws to permit it being slipped to and fro to give a greater or less verti- Said clamp is attached to an axis, as at E, upon one end of which is a crank, as at F, Fig. 2, which receives motion from a cam on the main shaft, as atG, through the con necting-rod H, and by which the clamp is partially rotated on its axis, in order to throw the upper and lower corners of the eyes of the needles in contact with the polishing-threads.

The several parts forming this combination are all found in the prior patent already referred to; but in that patent the cam had to automatically in the present machine by providing two stops upon a sliding bar, as at K,

Figs. 4 and 7, which is fitted in a groove in the crank-arm L that carries the cam G, said crank-arm being mounted on the main shaft B. Said sliding bar K has a pin on its inner face, as at K, that projects over toward the side of the frame A. Upon said frame is mounted in guides a sliding plate, as at M, which has two studs or projections extending out from its face, as at M and M and which are slightly curved on their opposite faces, to form thereby a sort of cam-groove for the pin K to work or pass between, and by which the sliding bar K is shifted from one end to the other, and thereby allows the cam G to make a. half-revolution, and then become locked. The cam-plate M is moved up and down in its guides by a camshaped bar, N, which is fastened on the side of the machine, and is moved to and fro by a cam at N which is mounted on an axis at N Fig. 6, that receives motion from the main shaft by intermediate mechanism, best seen at Figs. 5, 6, and 9. Said cam shaft or axis N is provided at its inner end with a wheel, N having two pins on its opposite faces, as at Fig. 9, and this wheel is rigidly fastened to the axis N and upon the end of the said axis is mounted a ratchet-Wheel, as at 'N, which is provided with two pins onits inner face; but it is mounted loosely on the said axis, and is caused to rotate by a pawl, as at N and-the bar N which is reciprocate'dby an eccentric, as at N upon the main shaft 13. Now, as said ratchetwheel N is rotated, the pins on its face are brought in contact with the pins on the face of the wheel N and when the axis N is rotatcd, and the cam is also revolved, the said cam is brought in contact with one of the pins on the cam-bar N, at which instant another pawl, as at O, on the sliding bar N engages .with one of the pins on the wheel N and by a quick action turns the axis N nearly a quarter of a revolution, and thereby as quickly shifts the bar N, and thereby either raises or depresses the plate M, and also holds it in a firm position until the ratchet-wheel N again catches up with the pins on the wheel N and gradually rotates the cam-shaft another halfturn, when it is. again rapidly revolved by the pawl O, and the cam G is thereby allowed to make a half-turn, and thereby change the relative throw of the needle-clamp automatically. The polishing threads are wound upon spools, as at S, and they are placed upon one end of the frame of the machine upon vertical pins and arranged in two rows, alternately with each other, so that a thread from the back row may pass between two threads on the front row, as shown in plan, Fig. 2.

Upon the upper end of the spools are placed elastic bars, as at S to reach from the rows of spOOlS in front to the row in the rear, and

upon theicenters of said bars there is placed transversely a binding-bar, as at S which extends over all the bars that rest on the spools, and said binding-bar is held in position by a single binding-screw, as at 8, so that all the spools may be held clamped upon the frame by the one screw, and released by the one operation of releasing it, when desired.

This method of applying the tensions to the spools saves a great deal of time, where many spools are used in a machine.

The take-up roll for the other end of the thread is shown at R, and is operated by hand when it is desired to move the threads to a new or unworn position, over the needleclamps, and said roll is held from rotating by a pawl and ratchet at one end, as at B To give a nicely self-adjusting tension to each of the threads, there is arranged upon a shaft, as at T, a spring-finger, as at T, which curves over the tension or take-up roll B, one

for each thread, and which is forked at its free end to stride the thread and to press upon it so as to take up any slack it may have by stretching more than the rest, and at the same time allow it to yield slightly without breaking the thread.

Upon the inner side of the shaft B there is suspended a weight, as at B to furnish the required force of the fingers upon the threads, and by rotating the shaft T backward, as shown at Fig. 3, all the fingers T may be lifted from the threads.

In front of the spools at one end of the machine there is provided a number of strips of metal, as at W, which may be termed combs, as they are provided with slits or notches corresponding to each thread, and by which the several needles are slipped or forced forward to the clamp whenever a new set are to be acted upon.

If fifty threads are mounted in a single machine at a time, and fifty needles are strung upon each thread, then fifty of these combs may be used, so that a row of fifty needles will be suspended between each comb, and

when a new set is to be brought forward, the front comb is lifted from its bracket on the frame, and is pressed forward toward the clamp, where the fifty needles may all be fastened at once, thereby saving much time in bringing them all to position. 7

Upon one side of the needle-clamp, as at D, there is attached a bar or strip of metal by pivots at each end, so that it may be raised up like a straight edge, against the under sides of the threads, and thereby serve to raise them all to the same height before the needles are fastened in the clamp. This also greatly facilitates the operation of mounting the needles, and thereby prevents the machine from being stopped only for a brief space of time-a great improvement over the previous machine already referred to.

At Figs. 8 and 10 are also shown another means of fastening the needle-clamp, by which time is saved over the previous method. In this there is a hook, as at Y, attached bya link to the pivoted axis of the clamp-jaw, and when said jaw is closed, the hook is raised up and engages with a slot in a lever, as at Z, which, on being pressed, draws the hook over so as to secure the two jaws of the needleclamp firmly together.

It will be seen by a reference to Fig. 7 that there is a spring-catch attached upon the side of the crank-arm L, which engages-with a spur on the sliding bar K, which is for the purpose of holding the bar in any position it may be placed, until the cam forces it either to one side or the other of said spring-catch, to effect the locking of the cam G.

It will also be observed that the connectingrod H is provided with an adjusting-screw, as

at E for the purpose of varying the throw of the needle -'clamp at different points in its travel; and it is also evident that some of these motions may be varied without departing from the nature of the invention.

We therefore claim- 1. In a machine for polishing the-eyes of needles, the combination of the needle-clamp with a cam for partially rotating said clamp,

when said cam is operated in its changes of motion automatically from the main shaft, as and for the purposes set forth.

2. The combination of the cam G, crankarm .L, sliding bar K, plate M, cam-bar N,

cam N and ratchet mechanism, substantially as described, and for the purposes set forth.

3. The combination, with a driving-shaft, of the two pawls operated by one eccentric, and a cam-shaft for giving fast and slow movements to a sliding bar, and holding the same in alternate positions, substantially as described.

4. I11 a machine for polishing the eyes of needles, the combination and arrangement of 6. In a machine for polishing the eyes of needles, the combs or comb-bars for pressing the needles forward to the'clamp, substantially as described.

7. The combination, with the needle-clamp, of a gage-bar for raising the needles, or the threads on which they are suspended, to the same height at the same time, substantially as described.

NATHANIEL WHEELER. PErLo M. BEERS.

Attest MYRON PERRY, BOYD ELIOT. 

